Visual Studio® 2008: Windows® Presentation

Foundation

Module 1: Creating an Application by Using Windows Presentation Foundation

• Overview of WPF

• Creating a Simple WPF Application

• Handling Events and Commands

• Navigating Between Pages

Lesson: Overview of WPF

• What Is WPF?

• WPF Architecture

• Defining User Interfaces in WPF

• WPF Capabilities and Features

• WPF Application Types

What Is WPF?

It is a new foundation for building Windows-based applications by using:

• Media

• Documents

• Application UI

.NET Framework 2.0

Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) Windows

Communication Foundation (WCF)

Windows Workflow Foundation (WF)

Windows CardSpace (WCS)

WPF Architecture

WPF Core Components

PresentationFramework

Common Language Runtime

PresentationCore

milcore

DirectX User32

Kernel

Managed Code

Unmanaged Code

Defining User Interfaces in WPF

<Window ... > ... <Label>Label</Label> <TextBox>TextBox</TextBox> <RichTextBox ... /> <RadioButton>RadioButton</RadioButton> <CheckBox>CheckBox</CheckBox> <Button>Button</Button> </Window>

WPF Capabilities and Features

WPF provides the following capabilities and features:

• XAML-based user interfaces • Page layout management • Data binding • 2-D and 3-D graphics • Multimedia • Animation • Documents and printing • Security • Accessibility • Localization • Interoperability with Windows Forms controls

WPF Application Types

Stand-Alone Applications XAML Browser Applications (XBAPs)

Lesson: Creating a Simple WPF Application

• Demonstration: Creating WPF Applications by Using Visual Studio 2008

• Defining the Application

• Defining Windows or Pages

• Adding Controls

• Building and Running a WPF Application

Demonstration: Creating WPF Applications by Using Visual Studio 2008

In this demonstration, you will see how to:

• Create a stand-alone WPF application

• Create a browser application

• Add controls to your application

Defining the Application

<Application xmlns:x=… xmlns=… x:Class="MyApp.App" StartupUri="Window1.xaml"> <Application.Resources> … </Application.Resources> </Application>

Visual Studio generates a XAML application file that specifies:

• The code-behind class for the application • The startup window or page • Application-wide resources

Defining Windows or Pages

A stand-alone application contains windows or pages

• They are represented by <Window> or <Page> elements in the XAML file • The code-behind file contains event-handler code

<Window xmlns:x=… xmlns=… x:Class="MyApp.Window1" Title="My Window"> <Grid> … </Grid> </Window>

<Page xmlns:x=… xmlns=… x:Class="MyApp.Page1" WindowTitle="My Page"> <Grid> … </Grid> </Page>

Adding Controls

Windows and pages contain controls

• The controls are represented by XAML elements •<Button> and <TextBox> are examples of these

... <Grid> <TextBox Name="TextBox1" /> <Button Name="Button1">Click here</Button> </Grid> ...

Building and Running a WPF Application

You can build and run a WPF application in Visual Studio

Stand-alone or browser application

Stand-Alone Application Browser Application

Quiz #1

Quiz

• Which of the following two components are managed components in the WPF architecture?

PresentationFramework and PresentationCore

PresentationFramework and milcore

milcore and PresentationCore

• Solution:

PresentationFramework and PresentationCore

Quiz (Contd.)

• The WPF stand-alone applications can contain windows or pages, but the WPF browser applications can contain ______. Pages

Windows

Pages and Windows both

• Solution: Pages

Lesson: Handling Events and Commands

• The WPF Event Model

• Handling WPF Control Events

• What Are Routed Events?

• Defining Routed Events

• What Are Commands?

• Demonstration: Defining Commands

The WPF Event Model

WPF controls generate events such as:

• Clicking buttons • Entering text • Selecting lists • Gaining focus

Implement event handler method in the code-behind file

Specify an event handler in the XAML file

Handling WPF Control Events

<Button Name="Button1" Click="Button1_Click"> Click here </Button>

public void Button1_Click( object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) { MessageBox.Show("Hello WPF"); }

What Are Routed Events?

Root element Root element

Child element Child element #1

Child element Child element #2

Leaf element Leaf element #1

Leaf element #2

WPF can route events up or down the element tree

Event bubbling: Event routed up element tree

Event tunneling: Event routed down element tree

Tunnel

Tunnel

Bubble

Bubble

Item clicked

Defining Routed Events

Example of event bubbling

• Define leaf elements inside a container element • Handle leaf events at the container level

<StackPanel Button.Click="CommonClickHandler"> <Button Name="YesButton">Yes</Button> <Button Name="NoButton">No</Button> </StackPanel>

private void CommonClickHandler(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) { Button b = e.Source as Button; ... }

What Are Commands?

Commands separate the semantics of an action from its logic

• Multiple sources can trigger the same command • You can customize the command logic for different targets

Key concepts in WPF commanding:

• Commands • Command sources • Command bindings • Command manager

Examples of predefined commands:

• Copy, Cut, and Paste

Demonstration: Defining Commands

In this demonstration, you will see how to:

• Define menu items that perform Copy and Paste commands

• Use the native ability of the TextBox to process the Copy and Paste commands

Lesson: Navigating Between Pages

• The WPF Navigation Model

• Demonstration: Navigating Pages by Using Hyperlinks

• Handling Page Navigation Events

• Maintaining State by Using Navigation Services

The WPF Navigation Model

Navigate from one page to another page

Navigate to a fragment in a page

Navigate subcontent frames in a page

Demonstration: Navigating Pages by Using Hyperlinks

In this demonstration, you will see how to:

• Create hyperlinks to navigate to other pages

• Create hyperlinks to navigate between pages and page fragments

• Create a Frame to contain pages in a Window

Handling Page Navigation Events

Page Navigation Request

Navigating

NavigationProgress

Navigated

LoadCompleted

FragmentNavigation

NavigationStopped

NavigationFailed

Maintaining State by Using Navigation Services

Page1.xaml Page2.xaml

Page1.xaml

Next

Back

• KeepAlive property

• FrameworkPropertyMetadata.Journal

• IProvideCustomContentState

Lab: Creating a WPF Application

• Exercise 1: Creating a Stand-Alone WPF Application

• Exercise 2: Handling Events and Commands

• Exercise 3: Navigating Between Pages

• Exercise 4: Creating an XBAP Application

Logon information

Virtual machine 6460A-LON-DEV-01

User name Student

Password Pa$$w0rd

Estimated time: 60 minutes

Lab Review

• Why would you want to inherit your window from the NavigationWindow class?

• How do you add an event handler to the Click event of a <Button> element in XAML?

• What is the name of the property that you use to configure a button to use the NextPage command?

• What is the name of the event to which you connect a handler if you want to manually determine if a command is allowed to be executed?

• When your application is running in a browser (XBAP), why are you not able to access the FileName property of the OpenFileDialog class?

Module Review and Takeaways

• Review Questions

• Common Issues and Troubleshooting Tips

• Best Practices

• Tools